Our great community here at ComicBookMovie.com has been known for many things. Several power-users, and even some relatively up-and-coming users, have been among the first people anywhere on the internet to break major movie news to the public on more than one occasion. Past 'controversies' involving satires, famous actresses, and mass efforts at stopping trolls have caused plenty of laughs and entertainment (in a good way...mostly) throughout the internet.
Flame-wars have reached truly epic proportions. New casting announcements for heavily-anticipated movies, and the uproar and backlash they created, have almost literally broke the internet many times over.
But what really sets this community apart from the others is our comments section and the myriad of different opinions, viewpoints, and perspectives that all of us are so eager to share with each other. In retrospect, maybe a bit too eager.
Unfortunately, this fanboy/fangirl eagerness has led to many trends that we sometimes fall back on, almost instinctively, when defending or attacking the most polarizing movies. Here's a countdown of 5 such trends and comments that we would all be better off without:
5) "Wait until the movie actually comes out before criticizing it!"
I'll admit, this comment actually does make some sense in a way. Obviously, one needs to actually see a movie before making any kind of bold statement about whether it will be good or not. Blurry pictures taken from the set and vague comments by the director and actors don't really give a great indication of whether a movie will or will not live up to the hype.
Having said that, does that mean we absolutely cannot, under any circumstances, make our opinions known just because the movie hasn't been released yet? Maybe it's just me, but I formulate opinions simply based on movie trailers all the time.
I mean, that's exactly the reason why studios release trailers in the first place. From their point of view, hopefully it elicits a positive response in the majority of viewers, they get a good word of mouth going, and more people go to see it as a result. The entire
point of this process is for us to develop opinions based on the little we see.
Take blockbuster movies like
The Avengers, or
The Dark Knight Rises, or
The Hobbit for example.
While those movies were being filmed and then moved to post-production, anticipation was through the roof. We were all chomping at the bit to see footage,
any footage at all. Setting aside how we now know those movies turned out, didn't half the fun of anticipating a soon-to-be-released movie involve looking at those leaked set pictures, criticizing or praising the actors portraying our favorite characters, and picking apart every frame of each trailer?
To tell others to shut up and stop drawing opinions and feelings when a movie hasn't been released yet is, in my opinion, ridiculous, uptight, and pretty boring.
4) "Yeah, but Rotten Tomatoes/MetaCritic gave the movie a __% rating!"
The Patriot (62%).
Mission Impossible (61%).
Taken (58%).
Spaceballs (54%).
Home Alone (54%).
Top Gun (51%).
The Perfect Storm (47%).
Space Jam (35%).
Hook (31%).
These are all generally accepted as good movies that got terribly low Rotten Tomatoes scores.
Need I say more? Yes? Okay, let's look at the flip side: bad movies with relatively high scores.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (78%).
Superman Returns (76%).
X-Men: The Last Stand (57%).
Transformers (57%).
Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (57%).
Judging by some of these egregious scores, it's no secret that Rotten Tomatoes isn't the best place to go if you're wondering how good or bad a movie is. The entire system that Rotten Tomatoes relies on isn't very dependable. And using this or any site like it when defending (or even attacking) another movie doesn't really make you look good. At all.
And while we're on the subject, the question of how much money a movie made is pretty much irrelevant as well. There are so many factors that go into that: different ticket prices, whether it's available in 3D and/or IMAX, the level of competition, the state of the economy, inflation, etc etc.
The fact that movies such as
Transformers: Dark of the Moon,
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,
Alice in Wonderland, and
Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace all made over $1 billion renders this as a moot point.
It's never a good idea to use Rotten Tomatoes and the profits of a movie as a basis for whether a movie is good or not.
3) "The general audience makes up like 95% of the viewers anyway, and they loved the movie."
This argument is flawed on many levels. First and foremost...it's simply not true.
Okay sure, it's not much of an exaggeration to say that the average Joe Schmo on the street outnumbers the amount of people who actually read the comics that our favorite movies are based on. But trust me, it's nowhere near the percentages that are regularly cited in the comments.
If that were the case, then studios have been wasting their time and money making so many things as close to the comics as possible. The reason we get such attention to detail, such as the Winter Soldier still having his infamous red star on his mechanical arm or the new, comic book faithful Spider-Man suit in
The Amazing Spider-Man sequel, is because the studios know it will please a significant portion of the audience.
Besides, a large number of the so-called general audience has a higher than average knowledge of the comic books anyways. Speaking from personal experience, those who were largely ignorant of the comic books coming in to movies such as
Iron Man or
The Incredible Hulk took the opportunity to read up on
plenty of the source material in preparation of what was to come in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
So even the general audience has a rudimentary knowledge of the changes made to the Mandarin, Superman's origins, Batman as the World's Greatest Detective, and so on. So to use the defense that the success of a movie depends on the general audience is rather flawed, as well.
2) "[Insert rival studio here] should just give up, they're so far behind [insert favorite studio here] right now!"
This is something that I personally will never understand. I get that different studios have different stories and superheroes. As such, it's easier to identify and relate with certain heroes than with others, causing some to prefer Marvel over DC or vice versa.
But who actually gets so caught up in the 'rivalry' that they legitimately root for one studio to do well and the other to fall apart? Even worse, who bases their opinions on a movie, regardless of whether or not it's good, depending on what company made it? To me, that's the very height of ignorance.
This isn't sports, there's no teams, there's no championships at stake here. This is two businesses trying to make as much money as possible, and we're playing right into their hands. Do we really think the studios themselves are wrapped up in this little 'rivalry'? From a fan standpoint,
absolutely not.
From a money-making and business standpoint, they only view each other as competitors for our money. That's all we are to them: handfuls of money. Even when studios make earnest attempts at pleasing us by making things as close to the comics as possible...that's driven by the fact that more of us will be willing to spend our money if we like what we see.
Which is why I find it so laughable when Marvel vs DC debates break out. All I picture is fanboys and fangirls yelling at each other while executives from both studios pick our pockets as we're oblivious and hopelessly distracted. Seriously, let's do ourselves a favor. Instead of wishing death and ruin on one studio or another, how about we root for quality movies, from
any company, that are actually worth our time and money?
1) "Well if you hate the movie so much, why don't YOU go make your own??"
Ahh, the age-old 'argument' of going ahead and making my own movie when I disagree with your opinion. This is quite possibly my biggest pet peeve when it comes to things like this, and so I saved it for last.
Out of everything I've listed, this is definitely the most illogical one of them all. So to sum up the reasoning behind this: If I have a problem with a movie that's made by a professional director, with professional cameramen, with professional actors, with highly lucrative studios backing them...I, a nobody, an amateur, a simple fan, with no connections or experience whatsoever, should go and see if I can make a better one.
Obviously, whoever uses this argument is pointing out that I indeed can't make a better movie if I tried, and thus I should shut up and enjoy the film.
Using this logic, and going along with the sports analogy I used earlier, we shouldn't be allowed to root for or criticize any sports teams either. After all, you can't talk if you can't hit a 95 mph fastball over the wall. Or shoot a 3-pointer with the game on the line. If one points out that Eli Manning is an interception machine for the New York Giants this season, well why don't
you, the out-of-shape average fan sitting on the couch, try to do better!
Even worse, this flawed logic implies that we can't even
praise a good movie either! In other words, this argument is saying that unless we are able to make our own good movie, then we don't know what a good movie is, and thus we shouldn't criticize it. So on the flip side of it, since none of us can make a good movie (and as a result, don't know what a good one is), then what right do we have to praise or even enjoy a movie?
Following this logic down the rabbit hole leads to all sorts of problems. The fact is,
we're not directors. We're not screenwriters, we're not actors. We're fans. Contrary to what some may think, we don't have to actually have one of those occupations in order to know whether or not they're doing a bad job. It's one of those things we just say without thinking about it, and it just makes no sense.
Conclusion:
These are just a few of the most aggravating things that we almost unknowingly say in order to stir up, rile up, and encourage the very worst flame-wars the internet's ever seen. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with a good flame war or anything, but just do us all a favor. Don't use any of these comments when defending or attacking controversial movies.
Have some pet peeves of your own that I missed? Comment below and try not to start any flame-wars if you can!